AFL-CIO ; The debate on the future of Labour Unions

Since the advancment of capitalism in the western world, a parallel power structure where worker and his or her rights can be heard emerged. Since the early days of industrialisation, the empowerment of workers was seen as a primary factor for the better meant of human society. The furstrations of Maxistism can be felt in the low-lit, industries of cloth, steel, coal etc. It is the difference in how modern society would best benefit the working populations of lower classes. Socialism and Communisim project an worker-owned company, with shakeholder rights the most important factor in the management of the company.

Capitalism, in the era of industries and later, depended on managerial capacities to direct the company to best suit the human populations. However, due to increasing layers of management, the modern companies are run by shareholders themselves. It is the wall streets of the nations that decitate the future of capitalism. And wall street never like Unions. For them, having a stake in the company meant low costs and high revenues. High profits could them to be distributed to all the members of the shareholder community. Thus, the idea of Bush of creating an investor generation. As the dream of the next american socity, each house has investments in the market, thus directly benefiting from higher profits.

And by the way, higher profits can be achived where costs are low. Outsourcing makes low costs with increased quality and efficiency possible. Unions are losing their primary motive to operate. The populations they are committed to serve no lower need them. Outsourcing and high business blend of mind are not the only reasons for the loss of union people.

In a book i am reading called, "Our Modern Times: The New Nature of Capitalism in the Information Age" by Daniel Cohen, the author distinguishes three kinds of human capital: "General" "specific" and "Biographical".

"General" human capital is that which bears on the mastery of a competence that is exterior to the firm and "general" to a certain type of knowledge. This is typically the competence of "professionals" who have left the wage-earning pool for higher ground and whose remuneration (including stock options) has much in common with financial capital remunerations. This is also the competence of CEOs who go from managing one company to managing another, and of the new technological pioneers.

"Specific" human capital is that which comes to bear on "internal" knowledge in the company- knowledge accumulated by a worker through apprenticeship in a certain type of work. Often an individual loses such knowledge when he or she walks out the gate of the company. This capital is the direct heir of managerial capitalism in that it depends on a long-term relationship with the company and is rooted in the heart of shareholder economics.

"Biographical" human capital is in some ways the capital of those who have no other type of capital, even if it is the also at times the true heritage of certain individuals in "upper management" whose sole capital is "knowing human relationships." Most often this is the capital of who can be called the " new proletariat": those who have only their lives to use as "experience." This is nonetheless "capital" in the sense that we have confidence in an individual because he or she is thought to react in an appropriate manner in various unforeseen circumstances. Such capital can become more valuable with time, or it can be lost when a worker is unemployed for a long time.

The General Knowledge worker, the Professionals of our world, are the best placed in the society. These people are educated formally, have a wide range of skills that can be used in various companies and are least likely to remain jobless for long periods of time. The educated, and in our generation worker, makes his or her own career path; jumping jobs and industries whenever required or they wish to do so. The Ultra-mobile, Yupiee culture generation fall into this catogory.

The "specific" worker flowerished under socialist, paper-filled ara of the mid-1900's where rules and regulations were the order of the day. A person needed to be in the company for long period of time to understand the rules and regulations of the company. Seriorship was worshiped. With the advant of mobile worker, seniority is gone - atleast not regarded in the same way.

The Biograpical worker is a self-starter, the entrupurer, and built a resume by the method of working several jobs, proving his or her each time.

The Unions thrived under the specific worker where as the majority of the workers nowadays are the other types. Also globalization has its role. The question now with the unions are what direction would they go for?

Transportation Systems

After a long time, I am sitting at a café and writing a blog. I used to do it a couple of months ago, more like a many months ago. Back in the day, when I was still at the university which I still am in some ways. As mentioned earlier, I moved from San Francisco to another city across the country, which in many ways is equally as interesting to live in, if not more. Of course, I am talking about New York City. Well, as you might have guessed, nobody who is unemployed lives in the New York City. Most families live outside the city and commute to the city. I am presently lodging at a cousin’s place in Stamford, CT, an hour’s distance to the city by train.

Speaking of trains, the only reason why New York or any such city can survive in the booming city population is through good, effective transportation. And Efficient. The transportation system in London is very similar, although much older. I am sure future generations would look at the subway systems of modern cities and would be amazed as we are of the drainage system of the first civilizations. With the technology available in modern transportation systems, especially the pubic transportation systems, I think we did a very good job (wherever it is being done). I am sure more such transportations are needed in more and more developing cities world wide and such systems are being developed. An example is Delhi. If the subway system would not have developed, it would have been impossible for people to survive in the pollutions generated by the citizens of the city. And more and more cities around the world desperately need some kind of public transportation available. Studies have shown that a developed and efficient public transportation could do wonders for both the local economy as well as the health care of the people.

Thus, it is very surprising that more emphasis to public transportation is not been given. Instead developing cities are emphasizing on improvement of present inefficient systems which, more than often not is owned by either the government or private ownership who are more interested in short term view. I wonder who owns the transportation systems in the New York City area. I believe the system is managed by trusts, non-profit organizations, overseen by board members belonging to the all communities. I could not be wrong if the actual maintenance of the system is privatized.

Take a case of Hyderabad, India. Traditionally, the major modes of transportation were private cars, two-wheelers, autorickaws, ricshaws, and finally buses. A local ground train system was present, but ineffiently run and outdated (It did not go to anywhere meaningful). In the last decade, the government introduced a number of changes. One of the main projects in the 90’s was the beautification of the city, including expansion of the road system. Roads were widened wherever possible, both by occupying adjacent land as well as breaking down existing illegal structure. One lane roads became 4 lanes in some areas. However, the general public simply “updated” their transportation modes from 2 wheelers to cars to SUVs. The road system is still bad. On the other hand, the Bus system improvements had some positive effect on the road condition. A multi-layered payment system enabling higher paying customers to pay for added comforts resulted in some improvement in the system. New Types of Buses were introduced catering to various demographics. Talk about a mono-rail system fell through due to politics. The disadvantage with mono-rail is the cost of construction. (It is usually built in the same routes as major highways, thus further disrupting the traffic) As with everything else, a newer system developed which is not as efficient but bypasses the problems created by the old system. Budget Airlines have come up connecting cities which a mono-rail should be plying to. Private ownership has enable capital to flow in without politics and a small section of the society is benefiting from it. If a good pubic system was made possible, with almost the same amount of capital (or even less), more citizens of the country would have benefited. (I am assuming that the cost of transportation that is the ticket price is going to be affordable for the general pubic). However good the budget airline system is, it is a very poor substitute for mordern tranportation systems.

What are the disadvantages of such a transportation system? As with everything, something on paper (or in this case, computer) is very different from actual reality facts. How an impliementation progresses depends on the people who turn it, not the technology used behind it, nor the money attocated to it.

Here I am, After so many Days

Hi Everybody, My Invisible Devoted Readers of My Blog. Thank you for your continued silence over my lack of blogs. ( NO thanks to the handful who have complained about the lack of them). As you might have guessed, I personally would like to take all the blame for the lack of public information from my side.

For a lot of time has passed between posting of my last blog and now, one would expect the whole has changed drastically. In some ways, it has. One never takes death as a joke, the attacks in London leave a sad reminder of Life and Death. But as Life goes, things change very slowly or atleast that is what we presive.

Anyways, for those of you would do not know, I am still looking for a Job. As the gold saying goes, "An Idle Mind is a Devil's Workshop", I have neither being busy nor productive. That does not mean I did nothing. (Atleast that is what i would like to Think)

Anyways, more about that later. I will quickly mention that I have read the book , "Lair's Poker" and am in the process of reading Bill Clinton's "My Life". I am now in East Coast, in New York City. More abut that in later blog.